Prentice heading to Washington after Keystone pipeline falls short of approval

James Wood & Darcy Henton, Calgary Herald11.19.2014

File - In this Oct. 4, 2012 file photo, large sections of pipe are shown in Sumner Texas. Safety regulators have quietly placed two extra conditions on construction of TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL oil pipeline after learning of potentially dangerous construction defects involving the pipeline's southern leg. The new conditions were added four months after the pipeline safety agency sent TransCanada two warning letters about defects and other construction problems on the Keystone Gulf Coast Pipeline, which extends from Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Premier Jim Prentice will travel in January to Washington, D.C., where he expects to find a United States Congress much more open to the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate was one vote short of the 60 necessary to approve Keystone and send a bill to President Barack Obama, who has repeatedly delayed a decision on the $8-billion pipeline proposed to link Alberta’s oilsands to the Gulf Coast.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday at the legislature, Prentice called the vote “disappointing” but noted that a new Congress, with a Keystone-friendly Republican majority, will be sworn in at the beginning of January.

“I’m certain the process will carry on at that point,” he said, adding that Tuesday’s vote was the “high water” mark for bipartisan support so far.

“This is not the end of the process, but a step along the way.”

Prentice — who noted in question period that he had spoken Monday to North Dakota senators Heidi Heitkamp and John Hoeven — said he will go to the U.S. capital in January, although dates have not been finalized.

“At this point, clearly it would be a process of being there, being engaged in terms of the new Congress,” said the premier.

Obama, whose Democratic party has been split on the pipeline, has hinted he would veto a bill approving Keystone XL. Congress would need to pass a Keystone bill with two-thirds support to override a presidential veto.

At the legislature, NDP Leader Rachel Notley said Prentice will need to do more than talk to win Keystone approval.

There have been suggestions Canada and Alberta would need to take additional action on greenhouse gas emissions to win Obama’s approval of the project, which has faced fierce opposition from environmental groups because of the oilsands’ carbon footprint.

“If ultimately we’re going to gain support for Keystone or other pipelines like it in other jurisdictions, we need to make serious progress in terms of our environmental record,” Notley said.

“Notwithstanding the public relations and communications efforts … we’re neither world class nor are we a leader when it comes to environmental protection and environmental initiatives in the province.”

Liberal Leader Raj Sherman also blamed “the PC government’s chronic inaction on the environment” for Tuesday’s loss in the senate.

Obama has just recently committed to tougher carbon reduction targets for the U.S. in a new agreement with China.

Prentice said he is an “outspoken advocate” of continental harmonization on environmental standards.

Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. first applied for a presidential permit for the oil pipeline in 2008, and it has long had the backing of the federal and provincial governments as they’ve pushed for Alberta oil to reach tidewater and higher prices.

“We are disappointed that U.S. politics continue to delay a decision on Keystone XL,” Chris McCluskey, spokesman for federal Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford, said in a statement.

TransCanada CEO Russ Girling struck a sunny note in a statement, saying the vote “demonstrates a growing and high level of support for Keystone XL.”

But the Senate shortfall was hailed by environmental organizations.

“We applaud the senators who listened to science and said no to this tarsands pipeline,” Greenpeace spokesman Mike Hudema said in a statement.

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Prentice heading to Washington after Keystone pipeline falls short of approval

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